CNN has been caught publishing an article where it parrots an official propaganda press release from the Chinese army in which they assert that their navy is making better efforts than Americans to contain COVID-19.
The news network reported on its website how the Asian fleet, lead by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has managed to overcome the coronavirus outbreak, the Caller reported.
The problem with the article is that the source used is a propaganda wing of the Communist Chinese Party.
Because it is the transcript of a report from the English PLA site, they mainly talk about the work carried out by the Chinese Navy to contain the coronavirus outbreak in the country, while discrediting the US army, saying that the work that they are doing is underwhelming.
According to what is described by the PLA, recently a Chinese fleet led by an aircraft carrier managed to move to the Pacific Ocean without reporting cases of COVID-19 in the crew, something that the United States Army has not achieved in at least four ventures.
CNN even copied Xu Guangyu’s statement, who is a senior adviser to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. According to Guangyu, the Chinese army proved to be prepared for any contingency, and they will always be ready to defend the nation.
The article appears on CNN at a time when the veracity of the data offered by the Chinese government regarding the pandemic has been questioned. Multiple cybersecurity organizations have confirmed our reporting that Beijing is conducting disinformation campaigns to hide the reality of the COVID-19 outbreak.
In this case, the worrying thing is that the article published by CNN is almost identical to the one from the source, as though the propaganda press release was just reworded by CNN.
A CNN spokesperson has come out and rejected dismissed concern it were parroting China’s propaganda saying the article was just a “single update from our international site’s 24-7 Live Story.”
Compare how CNN handles receiving a press release from China to how Sydney, Australia’s Daily Telegraph handles receiving a press release from China this week:
